Riddles of the Kaiser
by BenignUser
Summary: Sometimes being merely a Chosen isn't good enough. Sometimes acting according to a moral code isn't punishment enough. Sometimes you lose yourself, and find that the only thing left is revenge.


Date Started: July 29, 2009  
Date Finished: July 29, 2009

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Summary: _Sometimes being merely a Chosen isn't good enough. Sometimes acting according to a moral code isn't punishment enough. Sometimes you lose yourself, and find that the only thing left is revenge._

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Riddles of the Kaiser

The contact spot had been found out. He seethed in anger as he wondered which one of his underlings had betrayed him. He was certain the location had been compromised and that the authorities had been literally pointed towards the abandoned warehouses near the harbor. The Dark God would not be pleased, and whoever had been at the core of this treachery was sure to meet their demise deep beneath that Other World's watery depths.

He reached for his pistol. Two men were with him in the empty warehouse; they were both followers and well beneath him. He had brought them here to contact the Dark God, but now they were panicking; one arguing with the other as they tried to disregard the sirens that surrounded them. Either of them could be the traitor.

He let out two shots, quickly silencing them both. The Dark God would be pleased with him for having dealt with the traitor himself.

The lights went out, but he maintained firm. He would show no fear. He was certain that the Dark God would save him.

The sirens faded and he allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction.

There was a crack of light that broke in from outside the sealed doors. He slowly made his way towards it. He took calm, careful steps towards the exit; he took every silent moment to appreciate the howling of the waves and the rumble of the sea outside. The Dark God was there, he knew. He could feel him rising out of the waters even now.

Finally he reached the doors, and forced them open with both hands. He quickly adjusted to the headlights outside, and looked upwards towards the behemoth in the sea.

"My Lord," he began, "Master… we have done it! You have the girl, and those two Chosen… one of them is dead! I've killed him myself!"

The monstrous beast slowly turned to face him.

"What shall we do now?" He asked of his God. "The other girl was rescued; we have nothing to deter them from attacking us now."

In reply a grotesque arm came crashing towards him. His eyes widened, and he leapt to the side just as the beast slammed against the ground. The warehouse came toppling down behind him.

He rose to his feet, and ran for cover as the building collapsed. He looked back up towards his God. Nervously holding the pistol at his side, he shouted out, "Master, what are you doing?"

"I'm afraid he can't answer back."

He paled at the voice. He turned around to its source rapidly, his pistol raised and ready to fire. His finger inched inwardly to pull the trigger, yet nothing escaped the muzzle as a tall green figure landed beside him and crushed the weapon in its hand before he could even blink.

"Kamata," the same voice spoke. "Did you really think I wouldn't be able to find you?"

Kamata's arm instantly fell away from the pistol, and he immediately turned and fled. He shouted into the sky, "My Master! Help me!"

The behemoth remained still, and the same green figure landed in front of him again. He collided with the armored torso and found himself reaching up to cup his injured nose as he staggered back from the impact.

"I told you, didn't I?" the voice drew closer towards him. "That pitiful excuse for a sovereign isn't quite all there right now."

Kamata gulped, swallowing his pride as he chanced a look at the man behind him. His terrified eyes traced his oppressor up and down as he spoke, "You're… you're Chosen, aren't you?"

"I am Detective Ichijouji Ken," he said, stepping out of the shadows and stopping just underneath a standing streetlamp. "But you already know that, don't you?"

"You… you're supposed to be dead," Kamata breathed. "The Dark God..."

Ken cut him off. He raised a hand upwards, twirling a circular ring between his fingers as he spoke, "Is nothing more than my pet right now."

"No, no, no," Kamata began, he panted. "I gave him the girl. He promised us an invincible army. I was to rule the world!"

Ken's lip twitched. "Did you think I wouldn't have found her? That I'd be unable to rescue them?"

Kamata turned towards the waters. He dropped to his knees, begging. "My Lord, please, tell me it hasn't ended like this!"

"Stingmon, get him up."

The green figure did as requested. His arms clasped over Kamata's shoulders, and raised him upwards until the man was back on his feet and facing Ken once again.

"I have to admit you and Dagomon had quite the clever plan," Ken began. "He can't get Hikari by himself, so he figures why not just distract the Chosen while his human pawns do it instead – isn't that right?"

"The Chosen are dead," Kamata whimpered. He felt the claws gripping his shoulders tighten, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"A few of them are," Ken agreed nonchalantly. "Their partner's are less than pleased, of course. You two certainly had the right idea in targeting them while we waged war against Daemon."

"I was betrayed!" Kamata cried out. "The Dark God told us he only wanted the girl! She was to be the end of it! We didn't plan on killing anyone!"

Ken's eyes narrowed. "And yet my best friend lies beneath the earth. I know you're the one that did it."

"It wasn't me, I swear!" the claws gripped tighter, digging into his flesh. He had to grit his teeth against the pain.

"You took Hikari from us," Ken began. He turned away from his prey, turning instead to look Dagomon up and down. "And along with her you took both my wife and my best friend." As soon as the words left his lips he glanced back towards Kamata. He added, "My pregnant wife. As I'm sure you're aware, I wasn't very pleased with that."

The man in front of him spoke too calmly and rationally for Kamata's liking. "What are you planning on doing with me?"

"I may not look it," Ken spoke, "But I'm a rather nice guy; Chosen Child of Kindness and all that." He turned to face Dagomon once again. "It glowed for the first time earlier today, too; right before I saved Hikari and went after the big fish over there."

Kamata squint his eyes as he followed to where Ken was pointing. It was dead in the night, but the reflected moonlight shown off just enough for him to notice several rings spiraling downwards around the Dark God's forearm; he was certain they hadn't been there before. He struggled against his holdings. He shouted. "What have you done to our God?"

"I wasn't always this nice," Ken continued as if telling a tale to an old friend. "Once I was rather harsh. Cruel, if you will. I enjoyed having slaves, having mindless subjects doing my bidding. I'd watch them battle to the death in front of me." Ken cringed then, nearly breaking the character he'd set in place. He regained his composure almost immediately. "It was a rather unpleasant time back then."

"You've enslaved… a God?" Kamata was bewildered.

Ken ignored him. "And so we come to conclude our little tale with your kidnapping of Hikari and threatening to kill Miyako and Daisuke if we interfered with Dagomon's plan."

Kamata could feel the grip over his shoulders tightening once again as Stingmon gripped even harder. He felt his knees weakening and would have collapsed had the Digimon behind him not been holding him up. "It was just a bluff…"

Ken backhanded him across the face, sending his look roughly to the side. "You killed Daisuke to prove it wasn't one."

"I had to!" Kamata cried out. "He nearly escaped with the girl! Took out nearly ten of our guys on his way out; if I hadn't have shot him our Master would have killed me!"

"You're a fool," Ken spat. "Miyako is safe with the others. If my unborn child had been safe as well you might have actually survived this night."

"No, no, no!" Kamata began to panic. He shoved roughly against Stingmon, trying and failing to break free of his hold. The Digimon's grasp proved to be too strong. Even after he had tired out and fallen towards the ground, Stingmon still held on.

Ken stepped towards Kamata. He spoke gently, "My friends wouldn't be very pleased with my actions today if they were to be found out." He bent down, cupping the other man's chin with his gloved hand, and pulling him upwards until they were face to face. Ken smiled eerily. "But I'm sure you'll be keeping my little secret, won't you, Kamata-kun?"

"Please," Kamata began. "Don't do this."

At his sides a sharp blade of violet energy extended from the forearms of the creature that held him. Kamata's breath left him as he felt the sharp edge against his cheek. His arms shook, his legs quivered, his lips trembled.

"Tonight," Ken said. "You'll know me as the Kaiser."

Kamata's gaze remained locked with the energy blade at his side; his jaw remained shut, making no attempt to speak again. His only motion was to cower in fear.

Ken rose to his feet staring down at Kamata with frighteningly gentle and caring eyes. "You may take that name to the grave." His smile remained fixed. "I'll enjoy hearing you squirm."

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End Notes:  
- Hah, well, I've recently been craving to read a story that's about Ken going all Kaiser-esque on someone. I've been craving it so much that I actually sat down and wrote it.  
- This was mostly inspired by three fics that I've read: Lockdown, Hostage, and When the Air is Still. All of them are murder-mystery stories with gruesome deaths. I thought, hey, I want to do something like that! Of course when I do something _like that_ it turns out being completely _unlike that_.  
- Kamata is an OC. I hope it was made clear what he did and what he was trying to accomplish before Ken decided to kindly show him the error in his ways (read: own his ass).  
- Shameless plug: if you liked Kaiser-Ken here, you'll love him in World of Twilight.


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